QSR1843/3/5/6-7

Depositions and examination - Harriet Baldwin, George Young, Henry Nutt and Charles Spencer of Biggleswade, charged with passing a counterfeit shilling

26 April 1843

From: 1843 To: 1843

Sarah Hester, widow - she keeps the Black Swan in Biggleswade. Last evening 25 April Harriet Baldwin, George Young, Henry Nutt and Charles Spencer came into her house and asked for lodgings. They asked for 2 beds which she agreed to let them have. It was about 7pm. They all then went out except Henry Nutt. Harriet Baldwin and Young came back within an hour and ordered tea for four. Soon afterwards Mr Blunden the superintendent of police came in and took them all away in custody. Fanny Carrington, spinster - she keeps a grocer's shop in Biggleswade near the Black Swan. A little after 8pm last evening Harriet Baldwin came into the shop and ordered half an ounce of tea and tendered in payment a shilling which she told her was a bad one. Baldwin said "is it? I have taken it today". Baldwin left the shop and said she would be back in a few minutes. In about 1/4 hour Charles Spencer came into the shop and asked for half an ounce of tobacco and tendered in payment a shilling which she said was a bad one. He then geve her a good one for it and took the bad one away. She is very much in the habit of taking money in the sho and she is sure the two shillings tendered to her were bad ones. Susan Roberts, spinster - Miss Carrington is her aunt and she lives in the same house with her. About 8pm Harriet Baldwin came into the shop and asked for a 1/4 lb of sugar and gave her a shilling in payment which she has since discovered to be a bad one. In about 10 minutes she gave the shilling to Charles Bull the policeman. She laid it in a little wooden dish and it was in the same place when she took it and gave it to the policeman. Sarah Baxter, spinster - her mother keeps a toy shop in Biggleswade a little further from the Black Swan than Miss Carrington's shop. A little after 8pm last night Harriet Baldwin came into their shop and asked for a penny bun and afterwards for 2 sponge cakes as she had no buns. Baldwin gave her a shilling in payment and she gave her 11d in change. About 1/2 hour later she heard that her mother had taken a bad shilling in the shop. She looked at the one she had taken and found it was a bad one. She gave it to her mother who gave it to Charles Bull Sarah Baxter, widow - soon after he daughter had taken the bad shilling Charles Sopencer came into the shop and asked for some tobacco. She told him she did not sell it. He then said he would have a cake. They were sponge cakes for 1/2d each. He gave her a shilling for it which she took and was getting him the change when Charles Bull the policeman came into the shop and asked her to show him the money she had been taking. They both examined it and found it was a bad one. Bull took the shilling into his possession and took Spencer into custody. He left Spencer in her shop in the charge of an assistant and returned soon afterwards. She gave him the shilling which her daughter had taken. Charles Bull, police constable - from information received from John Roberts soon after 8pm he watched Charles Spencer and went into Mrs Baxter's shop after him. He received from her the shilling Spencer had just given her. He saw Spencer give it to her. He left Spencer in custody and when to the Black Swan with Susan Roberts, who pointed out Harried Baldwin as the person from whom she had received the bad shilling. Baldwin was with Young and Nutt. As soon as he could find Mr Blunden the superintendent they went to the Black Swan and took all three into custody. Afterwards he went to Mrs Baxter's for Spencer and he then received from Mrs Baxter the bad shilling her daughter had taken. He searched the three male prisoners and found several good shillings on each but no bad money. Edwin Blunden, superintendent of police - about 9pm he went with Bull to the Black Swan and found Harriet Baldwin, George Young and Henry Nutt at supper. They took them into custody. Teh two men said they knew nothing of Harriet Baldwin, she was a stranger to them. He sent the two men away in the custody of Bull and she said the men were strangers to her. He then opened her bundle and found men's apparel and razors in it which she said a friend of hers had given her. Harriet Baldwin - the shilling she gave to Susan Roberts was a good one. She jinked it and agave her the change. The shilling she offered to Mrs Carrington is the same one she afterwards passed to Mrs Baxter. She did not know that either of them was bad. Charles Spencer - he has nothing to say. The shilling he passed at Mrs Baxter's shop is the same one he offered to Mrs Carrington. He knows nothing at all about the other three prisoners.

item

Baldwin, Harriet,
Young, George,
Nutt, Henry,
Spencer, Charles,
Hester, Sarah,
Carrington, Fanny,
Roberts, Susan,
Baxter, Sarah,
Bull, Charles,
Blunden, Edwin

BIGGLESWADE, passing counterfeit coin, police constable, police superintendent, Biggleswade Black Swan, grocer, shops